Care and Feeding of Gut Strings

[Ben Rolston]

I just got a D & G from Nick Lloyd today in the mail (along with two bows). I have never had gut strings before so I am wondering what needs to be done to have them perform their best.

Ben

[ctxbass]

Nick Lloyd is probably the guy to ask since he is both an accomplished luthier and a bassist playing gut strings, but here is my take on it (FWIW).

New gut strings should need no immediate special care. The bass is another story.

If your bass is currently set up for steel strings, you will probably need to widen the slots in the bridge and nut. Also be sure to relubricate these slots with plenty of graphite (a #2 pencil is great for this). It is particularly important to prevent the strings from binding in the nut while bringing them to pitch (which will take days and days).

Gut strings also typically need more clearance from the fingerboard, so you may want to raise the bridge. Be sure to raise both sides equally. It can be tough to find a height where the gut strings play well and the steel strings are manageable without a little work on the bridge. If you need to, you can file deeper slots for the E and A strings. This is not ideal, but it will enable you to try the gut/ steel setup. If you decide to keep the guts on top, you can have the bridge reshaped. If you decide to go back to all steel, you can fill the bridge slots.

[Salty]

I know this has been mentioned here and there in the past, but I wanted to comment that I found that using string oil on unwrapped guts (especially medium quality) extends their life significantly in my experience.

I use Pirastro String Oil. There is definitely other oils you can use, which you can search this or 2xbasslist archives for - almond oil, baby oil maybe, etc.

Hope this helps- Matthew Rybicki